9/27 - SEPAC Mtg (see info below)
9/28 - Blake Student Council Mtg
MCAP Meeting
9/29 - Blake GSA
10/4 - Blake Site Council Mtg (3:30 p.m.)
10/5 - No School (Yom Kippur)
10/6 - Blake GSA
10/10 - No School (Indigenous People’s Day/Columbus Day)
Blake’s Question of the Week
To encourage dialogue and reflection creativity and how we can help it be part of our systems in school, our question(s) for the week is (are): How can we help foster creativity in schools? What helps you to be creative? Fostering Creativity (Week of 9/25/22) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Blake Intramurals
Registration for the Blake Fall Intramural Session is now open: Blake Intramural Website. We will be in touch as more activities become available.
Blake Battles Bias
Blake Battles Bias will meet on Monday October 3rd in Mrs. Gelornini's room, room 418. All interested 7th and 8th graders are welcome to join us! Please see Mrs. Gelormini or Ms. Thress with questions.
Blake Student Council
Blake’s Student Council meets every Wednesday afternoon from 2:15-2:45 in Mrs. Shaw’s room (525). All are welcome to join - the more members we have, the more we can accomplish! Spread the word!
Inktober is Coming!!!
Every October, artists all over the world take on the INkTOBER drawing challenge by doing one drawing a day the entire month. ANYONE CAN DO INKTOBER, JUST PICK UP A PEN AND START DRAWING!!! Listen to the announcements every AM for the prompts!
Blake is always looking for substitute teacher applicants. Applicants need not have teaching licensure but should be energetic, flexible and enjoy working with children. For more information or to apply, please visit Medfield Public Schools - Employment Opportunities and look under ‘Substitute Teaching’. Please contact Marcia Berkowtiz ([email protected]) with any questions.
Blake Yearbook Information
We are already beginning to create the Blake 2023 yearbook! You will see the first email about purchasing this year's yearbook in the next few weeks. Please keep a lookout for emails from our yearbook provider, Herff Jones. All yearbooks must be purchased through their website. As a reminder this is an all school yearbook and will include highlights of 6th, 7th, & 8th graders!
Please reach out to Kristin Buley ([email protected]) or Kristin Manning ([email protected]) with any questions!
Message from our Nurses
Welcome to the 2022/23 school year! We hope the new school year is off to a healthy start and your child(ren) are enjoying middle school.
Here are a few helpful reminders:
- Please send your child to school daily with a refillable water bottle to hydrate throughout the day. Please make sure their name is on the bottle.
- Please send in your child’s physical following their annual appointment.
- If your child is feeling ill with cold/allergy symptoms, headache, sore throat or other symptoms, please be sure to do a COVID test prior to deciding if they are well enough to attend school. Refer to the attached COVID Guidelines for more detailed information regarding when to test.
If your child tests positive for COVID, please keep them home to isolate for 5 days to avoid spreading the virus to others and notify us in the Blake School Nurse’s office as well as notify your child’s healthcare provider.
You can reach the nurse's office at 508-242-8554 or by email as noted below. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.
Theme of Discovery for 2022-2023
Our theme for this year at Blake is one of Discovery. We believe that this theme will extend the work we have done over the last ten years with our themes of Community, Perseverance, Creativity, Acceptance, Collaboration, Empathy, Diversity, Happiness, Courage, Curiosity, and Imagination. As a staff we have begun brainstorming ideas and I encourage all families to join us in the brainstorming process as well. As ideas and thoughts come to mind, do not hesitate to email me ([email protected]) or Marcia ([email protected]).
Food Services Information
The breakfast program at the Middle School is up and running! We will be offering free breakfast to all students prior to the start of the school day from 7:10-7:30. The 8th grade students will get their breakfast in the cafeteria and 6th and 7th grade students will have the opportunity to get breakfast outside of the gym in the morning.
Similar to lunch, students will need their PINs (Personal Identification Numbers) to get breakfast. Please note your child’s PIN below and share it with them.
Additionally, if you wish to set up a My School Bucks account to track when your child is getting a school breakfast or lunch, you will need their student ID number.
Our breakfast menu can be found here.
If you have any questions regarding the breakfast program, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Caitlin Fahy
Food Service Director
[email protected]
Notification for Absences/Dismissals
If a student will be absent from school, please call Blake's absence line at (508) 242-8501. If a student needs to be dismissed from school before 2:07 p.m., an e-mail must be sent by the parent/guardian to [email protected]. Please include the following information:
- Date
- Time of dismissal
- Student name
- Reason for dismissal
- Person picking up
Student and Family Inventories - Thanks!
In an effort to help foster relationships with students and establish open lines of communication with families, we are asking all students and families to please fill out the respective Google Forms below about each student's interests and approaches to learning...
Blake Student Learning Survey 2022-2023
(This link has been sent to students and they can only access this link via their Medfield email accounts.)
Blake Family Learning Survey 2022-2023
Our hope is that the answers will help our team support students and families throughout the year.
** If you would like this survey translated into a different language, please let me know ([email protected]).
Book Discussion Group for Parents for 2022-2023
Over the last few years the Blake Site Council has read several books and we will continue this practice during the 2022-2023 school year. Stay tuned for more information and we hope you can join in these discussions - all caregivers are invited and welcome!
Look for purple ribbons, representing the colors of Suicide Prevention, around town center. These ribbons will contain tags with QR codes that lead to a resource page. Medfield is fortunate to have so many businesses that support suicide prevention; many of these businesses will demonstrate that support by displaying purple lights in their windows and entrances during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Driving through Medfield on a September evening will leave you with a sense of togetherness and support as you notice purple ribbons and lights up in the center of town.
Medfield Outreach staff are now certified QPR trainers. QPR is a Suicide Prevention Training that teaches people to recognize the warning signs of suicidal thinking and behavior, and trains individuals to question, persuade, and refer those at risk for help. If you have an interest in becoming trained or hosting a training for a group of friends, neighbors, or co-workers in the community, please reach out to [email protected] to check availability.
The Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention was created in September 2017 and is composed of community members and professionals who care about mental health. Recognizing that suicide has touched our town, the coalition came together to form an initiative that raises awareness and has the potential to save lives. Our mission is to promote the mental health and emotional wellbeing of all community members, raise awareness, reduce stigma, and educate our community to help end suicide. Our vision is to build a community where suicide, self-harm, and stigma have been replaced by hope, self-care, and acceptance.
The coalition is open to all community members! Learn more on our website at https://www.medfieldcsp.org/ or email us at [email protected] for the monthly meeting schedule.
Message from SEPAC
(Special Education Parent Advisory Council)
The first SEPAC meeting will be Tuesday, September 27th at 7pm via zoom. Join us! All are welcome! Contact [email protected] to join the listserv to receive updated emails from us including meeting agendas, surveys, events and more.
Message from MCPE
(Medfield Coalition for Public Education)
- Science & Engineering Visiting Science Unit at Dale Street School, providing five hands-on engineering lessons from visiting scientists for grade 5 students
- Modernizing the LMC/Makerspace Learning Spaces at Blake Middle School, including purchase of a GlowForge 3D Printer and space-appropriate furniture
- Funding for Numicon kits for each Kindergarten and grade 1 classroom, allowing our youngest learners to build a developmentally appropriate conceptual understanding of numbers
Webinars/Workshops of interest
Critical Ways Leaders Can Build a Culture of Belonging and Achievement
Friday, 9/30 at 2:00 p.m.
Education leaders continue to navigate many challenges this year. With competing priorities and limited bandwidth, it can be difficult to focus on developing inclusive, responsive and mindful learning environments. However, research shows that these efforts can have a positive impact on student outcomes. Join education expert, Ken Shelton; and Dr. Tim Hudson, chief learning officer at DreamBox, as they discuss how leaders can leverage technology and other innovative tools to accelerate learning while providing opportunities for inclusivity, diversity and equity.
During this session, you’ll learn:
- How to help your team evaluate their habits of mind and cultural norms
- Practices to support diversity and belonging with technology
- Why equity in education must include diversity within socioeconomics, race, cultural and gender identity
- Strategies to ensure innovations provide authentic, diverse learning
- Guidance to support leaders' social wellbeing
StrongMind: Reimagining Schools
Wednesday, 10/5 at 1:00 p.m.
We have known for years that traditional school doesn’t work for many at-risk students, but one of the surprises from the pandemic was finding that other types of students thrived in the flexibility of remote, virtual, and hybrid learning. Forward-thinking district and school leaders are seeing the challenges and lessons learned from the pandemic as an opportunity to offer innovative and flexible options for students and families who, for a variety of reasons, don’t want to go back to traditional school now or possibly ever. Offering new options and expanding them to more types of districts, including urban districts, may be the key to bringing missing students back to school communities.
Join us on October 5 at 1 pm ET for a panel discussion about reimagining school for students and families that are looking for something different. John Watson, founder of Evergreen Education, the Digital Learning Collaborative, and the Digital Learning Annual Conference will moderate a panel of school leaders and other education experts that are leading new options in learning. They will share insights about their school models, the populations they are serving, their challenges, and their successes.
Walking the Talk: A Practical Framework for Leading Toward Equity
Tuesday, October 11 3:00 p.m.
This webinar will explore the Equity Leadership Framework and the essential leadership attributes in creating a culture centered around everyday equity actions that matter. Leaders will gain insight and learn strategies to effectively lead equity efforts by
*Defining and clarifying equity. This is the foundation from which all things will flow. We will explore the importance of creating a working definition of equity and why this definition is so crucial for the other framework components to function optimally.
*Creating productive discomfort. Creating a new normal where adults get comfortably uncomfortable to challenge the status quo through intentional dialogue conscious of race.
*Building efficacy. Monitoring adult beliefs and supporting the development of higher levels of individual and shared efficacy.
*Normalizing action. Ensuring that staff routinely use an equity lens in gathering and using data and providing instruction for consistent and sustained success over time.
Equity calls for courageous leadership. Join this webinar for a journey of discovery about the importance of leveraging focus, competence, and passion to confidently forge an unconventional path that will authentically lead to equity.
About the Presenter:
Dwayne Chism is the Dean of the School of Education at Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska. He supports equity work at the local, state, and national levels and works to support the development of current and aspiring leaders of color across the United States. Chism previously served as a principal supervisor, principal, and teacher. In 2018, he founded Shifting Perspectives, LLC, to help schools navigate diversity to create equitable conditions for learning.
How to Have Difficult Conversations (with Respect and Understanding)
Wednesday, October 12 7:00-8:30 p.m.
For parents, caregivers, educators, and community members of all ages
In this small group interactive program, SPARK Founder and Executive Director Christine Guthery will share: (1) the reasons why courageous conversations are important; (2) why they are challenging; and (3) the tools, strengths (and super powers) that allow us to manage them successfully.
This program will focus on practical strategies and how to harness our strengths to have conversations that matter at work, at home, and in the community! Feel free to share scenarios that you would like to address in your registration form.
(Limit 30 registrants)
ASL Interpretation will be provided at this event.
Changing the Game with John O'Sullivan
Thursday, October 27 7:00-8:00 p.m.
For youth sport coaches at all levels of play, parents and caregivers of active kids. Young people involved in youth sports and teen athletes are also welcome to attend.
John O'Sullivan, internationally known bestselling author, speaker and podcast host, will offer strategies to promote a positive and character-building sports experience for young people. Youth sports should be focused on learning sport-specific skills, as well as helping kids get the most out of their sports experience, all while growing as a person, learning life lessons, and having fun.
Registrants are invited to also sign up for a special Post-Program Discussion with John O’Sullivan - here
Space is limited, so sign up now if you would like to join John O’Sullivan and fellow youth sport coaches/sports leaders immediately after the program to go deeper into some of the topics and content presented in “Changing the Game”. Bring your questions and ideas for this interactive discussion.